Lymbery Sylvia. Colloquial Italian. Parte 1
Подождите немного. Документ загружается.
occasionally to be found in formal invitations and bureaucratic
letters. Lei is, however, everyday usage for ‘you’ to people when
the relationship is not one of familiarity and you should use it in
preference to tu when in doubt. It is better to be too formal than
too familiar. It is used to men as well as to women, because of the
gender of Signoria. The confusion with ‘she’, often feared by
learners, is not the problem it at first seems. The deferential origin
of the usage probably also accounts for the practice of writing Lei,
especially in formal letters, with a capital letter.
Present singular of -are verbs;
also essere
Now we can see the full singular pattern of an -are verb:
(io) parlo
(tu) parli
(Lei) parla
(lui) parla
(lei) parla
Il signor Smith parla molto bene l’italiano.
And of essere:
(io) sono
(tu) sei
(Lei) è
(lui) è
(lei) è
Exercise 9
Pretend to be the following people and talk about yourself.
1 A woman with the following attributes: you are Australian; tall
and blonde; married; and you work in Sydney.
2 You are a Canadian man and you are married. Your wife is
English. You live in Milan.
3 You are an Italian man. You are Sicilian, from Palermo. Your
name is Salvatore. You live in Bologna. You work in a bank.
You are married and your wife is Scottish. She is a teacher.
30 Unit 2: Mi chiamo Harry, sono americano, e Lei?
How would you say the same things about someone else?
4 She is Australian; tall and blonde; married; and she works in
Sydney.
5 He is Canadian and he is married; his wife (sua moglie) is
English; he lives in Milan.
6 He is Italian; Sicilian, from Palermo; his name is Salvatore; he
lives in Bologna; and he works in a bank; he is married and his
wife is Scottish; she is a teacher.
Exercise 10
Try to describe yourself using the words you have met in this unit.
This exercise has no set answer, of course – it depends on you.
Also try to describe someone else – a friend or member of your
family.
Unit 2: My name’s Harry, I’m American, and you? 31
3 In città
In town
In this unit you will learn about:
• Finding your way around the sights
• Asking for and understanding directions to specific places
• The definite article, ‘the’
• questo/a ‘this’
• dove ‘where’; dov’è ‘where is . . .’
• Asking questions
• Negative sentences
• Ordinal numbers
• Present tense singular of second group verbs (infinitive
ending in -ere)
Dialogue 1
A Perugia
Jack is visiting Perugia, a lively modern city but with roots going
back to the Etruscans, whose civilization preceded that of the
Romans in Italy. Maria is showing Jack a brochure containing a
plan of the city and pictures of some of the sights.
1 Can you guess what the Palazzo Comunale is used for?
2 Where do people like to stroll in the evening?
3 Why might you want to go to the garden at the end of Corso
Vannucci?
JACK: Che cos’è questo?
MARIA: Questo è il Palazzo Comunale, il municipio. Si chiama
anche il Palazzo dei Priori.
J
ACK: E’ magnifico. E questo?
MARIA: E’ la cattedrale.
JACK:(Pointing to another photo) Questa è una fontana?
MARIA: Sì. E’ la Fontana Maggiore. E’ l’opera di Nicola e
Giovanni Pisano.
J
ACK: E’ molto bella. E la via, come si chiama?
MARIA: E’ Corso Vannucci. E’ molto importante per la città. La
sera la gente viene qui a fare la passeggiata. In fondo
c’è un giardino con un panorama molto bello sulla valle
e verso Assisi.
JACK: E questo?
MARIA: Questo è l’Arco Etrusco.
JACK: E il museo famoso, dov’è?
MARIA: La Galleria Nazionale? L’entrata è qui, in Corso
Vannucci.
Vocabulary notes
questo/a ‘this’
il municipio ‘the town hall’
il Palazzo dei Priori ‘the Palace of the Priors’. In the Middle Ages,
Perugia was a city state; the Priori were the elected officers who
governed it.
Unit 3: In town 33
Palazzo dei Priori and the Fontana Maggiore, Perugia.
Courtesy IAT Perugia.
opera ‘work’ (produced by a creative artist)
la via ‘the street’
la sera ‘the evening’ (here, ‘in the evenings’)
c’è (ci è) ‘there is’
un panorama a view’. A number of nouns ending with -ma are
masculine. Hint: Learn it with an adjective that shows gender, e.g.
un panorama magnifico.
in fondo ‘at the far end, at the bottom’
verso ‘towards’
Cultural point
fare una passeggiata means ‘to go for a walk’, but in much of Italy
fare la passeggiata is not exercise: it is a social event. You walk up
and down the main street, stopping to chat to friends, looking at
everyone else and generally seeing what is going on. People of all
ages do this, so you will see both groups of young people and also
their parents. It means you will see your friends frequently and
news is passed on quickly!
Language points
The definite article
il for masculine nouns
la for feminine nouns
un palazzo a palace un giardino a garden
il palazzo the palace il giardino the garden
una fontana a fountain una via a street
la fontana the fountain la via the street
Note: For both masculine and feminine nouns beginning with a
vowel we use l’ for ‘the’.
un arco an arch un’acqua minerale a water
1
l’arco the arch l’acqua the water
1 You say this when ordering a glass of water; it is usual to order spring/mineral
water rather than ask for it from the tap.
34 Unit 3: In città
Note also:
uno scontrino a till receipt uno studente a student
lo scontrino the till receipt lo studente the student
Words that have uno for ‘a’, have lo for ‘the’ (see Unit 1). This
also applies to nouns beginning with z, pronounced ‘ts’ or ‘ds’ e.g.
lo zucchero (‘sugar’).
questo/a
This can be a pronoun or an adjective. When it replaces (as a
pronoun) or describes (as an adjective) a feminine noun it becomes
questa.
Asking questions
Yes/no questions are made simply by using a rising intonation for
the last word:
Questa è una fontana. This is a fountain.
Questa è una fontana? Is this a fountain?
Harry è americano. Harry is American.
Harry è americano? Is Harry American?
Paolo lavora in un ospedale. Paolo works in a hospital.
Paolo lavora in un ospedale? Does Paolo work in a hospital?
Giorgio abita a Firenze. Giorgio lives in Florence.
Giorgio abita a Firenze? Does Giorgio live in Florence?
You do not need ‘do’ or ‘does’ as in English, nor the word order
change which English requires with the verb ‘to be’. Word order
is, however, more flexible in Italian than in English, so you will
often hear in everyday speech:
E’ una fontana, questa?
E’ americano, Harry?
Lavora in un ospedale, Paolo?
Abita a Firenze, Giorgio?
The first form (i.e. statement with voice raised at the end: Questa
è una fontana?) should be your model. The answer will normally
be either sì or no ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Unit 3: In town 35
When asking a question in a way that seems to be expecting
confirmation that the information in the question is correct, e.g.
‘You do work in a hospital, don’t you?’, simply tag on to the state-
ment: vero? or (sometimes) non è vero?:
Lavori in un ospedale, vero?
Questa fontana si chiama la Fontana Maggiore, vero?
Information questions require a question word. The subject, if
expressed, follows the verb:
Come si chiama il medico?
What’s the doctor’s name?
(lit. ‘How does the doctor call himself?’)
Che cos’è questo?
What’s this?
Come va Suo marito?
How is your husband?
Question words met so far:
Come? How?
Come va? How are you?
Che . . .? Che + noun means ‘which?, what?’
Che lavoro fa? What is your job?
(lit. ‘What work do you do?’)
Che cosa? What? (often just cosa?)
Note: Una cosa means ‘a thing’; so che cosa is lit. ‘which, what
thing’.
Exercise 1
Look back at the dialogues in Unit 2. Make a list of the questions
you find in them.
Exercise 2
On the facing page are pictures of some famous places in Italy.
For each one there is a question and the answer. Complete the
answer with the correct word for ‘the’. If you do not know what
the word means, it does not really matter because you can find the
correct gender from the un, una in the question. Try guessing and
then check from the ‘Glossary’.
36 Unit 3: In città
Unit 3: In town 37
1 The Doges’ Palace
in Venice.
5 The Campanile by
Giotto in Florence.
4 The Leaning
Tower of
Pisa.
2 The Ponte Vecchio in
Florence.
3 The Basilica
of San Pietro
in Rome.
1 Questo è un palazzo?
Sì, è _____ Palazzo Ducale a Venezia.
2 Questo è un ponte?
Sì, è _____ Ponte Vecchio a Firenze.
3 Questa è una basilica?
Sì, è _____ Basilica di San Pietro a Roma.
4 Questa è una torre?
Sì, è _____ Torre Pendente di Pisa.
5 Questo è un campanile?
Sì, è _____ Campanile di Giotto a Firenze.
Cultural point
Technically the Leaning Tower of Pisa is a campanile, the bell
tower for the cathedral of Pisa, il duomo di Pisa. Cathedrals are
sometimes called cattedrale, more often duomo. The famous
Leaning Tower is part of a particularly lovely group of buildings,
the duomo, the campanile and the battistero (the baptistery of
the cathedral), all by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, who were also
responsible for the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia.
Vocabulary
More town vocabulary: the first group is very easy to guess, but
use the ‘Glossary’ to check or if you cannot guess.
aeroporto ambasciata banca
cinema (m.) consolato farmacia
galleria pizzeria ristorante (m.)
stazione (f.) supermercato teatro
ufficio postale
The following are more difficult to guess:
albergo hotel
cambio foreign currency exchange
chiesa church
mercato market
fermata dell’autobus bus stop
38 Unit 3: In città
Dialogue 2
C’è una banca qui vicino?
A tourist needs to change some money. He stops a passer-by.
1 What does the tourist ask for first?
2 The passer-by suggests he goes to a foreign exchange bureau.
Why?
TURISTA: Scusi, c’è una banca qui vicino?
PASSANTE: Una banca, sì. E’ in Piazza Garibaldi.
TURISTA: Dov’è Piazza Garibaldi? E’ lontano?
PASSANTE: No, è qui vicino. Vede l’albergo Bristol? (pointing
down the road)
T
URISTA: Sì.
PASSANTE: Piazza Garibaldi è subito dopo, sulla sinistra.
TURISTA: Grazie. E’ aperta la banca a quest’ora?
PASSANTE: Penso di no. Lei deve cambiare valuta o travellers
cheques?
T
URISTA: Sì, travellers cheques.
PASSANTE: C’è un ufficio di cambio lì, sulla destra, subito dopo
la farmacia.
T
URISTA: Oh, grazie. Buongiorno.
PASSANTE: Prego. Buongiorno.
Vocabulary
vicino near
lontano far
qui here
qui vicino near here
vede l’albergo? do you see the hotel?
lì there
aperto open
penso di no I think not, I don’t think so
valuta currency
subito immediately, suddenly
dopo after
sulla sinistra on the left
sulla destra on the right
Unit 3: In town 39